Bum leg

I woke up early this morning so I could get in my run before TNT kickoff for Spring Season. As I was getting dressed, my right leg felt "funny", but I went for my run anyway.

3 miles into my 9 mile run, my right leg started bothering me. It didn't hurt, it just didn't feel right, so I turned around.

After the 6 mile run, I went to kickoff and then lunch with the staff. I spent some time stretching and on the foam roller to figure out how what was wrong with my leg.

The foam roller caused me some pain, but nothing seems majorly wrong. Tomorrow is a 3 hour bike ride, so I guess I'll find out.

Somewhere Warm

I've decided I need to go somewhere warm. Yes, warmer than Northern California. It's winter now and I seem to have lost all tolerance for "cold" weather. I know 50 degrees out is warm relative to below freezing for many of you readers, but it's not warm in compared to the 70 degree weather I'm used to.

I'm not sure where my cold weather tolerance went. I used to go to school in shorts and a t-shirt all year round, even in the dead of winter (ok, ok, I know there is no "dead of winter" in Southern California, but I wanted to make a point!). Now, if I don't leave the house with a jacket on, I'm freezing.

I have 100K frequent flyer miles that will expire in June if I don't use them... Maybe I should make a trip to somewhere warm.

Racing Around

This has been a quiet week thus far at work. It's Chinese New Year holiday time, so the companies are shut down for 2 weeks in China. Because of this, there isn't much to do. On top of this, it's extra quiet because my project was cancelled.

Luckily, I have filled my time with surfing the internet, yoga, spinning, and playing games on my iPhone. Today, I decided to leave around 9:30AM and run some errands. I also played Mario Kart and ate lunch with a friend before heading back to work.

When I got back to work (4 hours later) I ran into my co-worker and director. They asked me how my day was, so I responded "I've been racing around." What they didn't realize is that I meant I had been playing Mario Kart...

Happy Chinese New Year

Yesterday was Chinese new year. We are starting the year of the Ox.

I didn't do much for Chinese new year. I was planning to get Chinese food and load the fridge with supplies on new years eve, but honestly, I forgot Chinese new year was Monday. I THOUGHT it was Tuesday, the 27th. Yes, I know, I'm a bad Chinese person. Luckily, I had done my laundry and cleaned the house because that's what I try to do on Sunday afternoon.

I didn't even eat Chinese food on Chinese new year. I thought about going to Panda Express, but know that's not real Chinese food. Oh well. I'm starting this year off one-day-behind, so maybe I'll get Chinese food tonight.

Since this is the year of the Ox and I was born in the year of the Tiger (next year), it's supposed to be a tough year for me. According to Yahoo! Horoscope, this year is supposed to be 27% good for Tigers. WTF? Only 27% of the year will be good? I hope that means the other 73% of the year will be GREAT!

Hope you had a great Chinese New Year!

Louie Tri

Today was Ironteam's Olympic distance triathlon in honor of Louie Bonpua. Louie was on my very first Ironteam and passed away that season from blood cancer. Every year since then, Ironteam has honored Louie with this triathlon held on Treasure Island. As you can see, it was a beautiful day.

At 9 AM, we jumped into the frigid bay to start the race. We swam 3 laps which was approximately 0.9 miles. It took me 38 minutes as predicted.

Next we headed out on our bikes for 6 loops of the course. It was very windy in one direction, but other than that it was a good ride for me. About 90 mins later, I finished the 25-mile bike ride.

Then was on to the 6.2 mile run. It took my legs over 3 miles to start feeling good. The bike is always hard on my back and the first few miles running can be painful until everything loosens up. Finally I was able to pick up the pace and feel like a runner again.

I finished the race after 3 hrs 22 mins and that includes two long transitions. I was pretty happy with the race overall and know there are a few things I need to work on to get faster. That's my goal this Ironman season... Go faster than last time.

I hope you all got out to enjoy the weather on this beautiful Sunday!

Pinkberry

Finally, we have a Pinkberry in the bay area!!

Project

A decision was made at work yesterday to stop a product launch. A product we were planning to launch in March. This is because some negative information was found about this new product platform.

I have worked hard on this project from the beginning, 2 years now. It was supposed to be a project that helped demonstrate my leadership skills to management and lead to a promotion.

It is a project that I spent 80% of my time traveling for the last 2 years. It is the project that I completely disrupted my life for. I missed events in friend's lives, postponed vacations, missed TNT events, missed seeing my family, missed spending time with my niece, cancelled races I had planned to do. All for a project that has been cancelled, 2 months before launch. And all the work for it (on my part) is done.

Part of me feels like crying and the other part of me says I need a drink. A big drink.

Endurance Workouts

On Tuesday, my yoga instructor said we were going to do "endurance yoga". No one had any idea what that meant, but we soon found out. Basically, you hold all the poses for a long time until everything starts to hurt, you start sweating profusely, and your body starts to shake... sounds like fun, right? I was quite sore after, but still had a spin workout to keep up with my Ironteam training. I did my hour of spinning after work.

Yesterday, our calendar for Ironteam said "4-mile track workout". It's a taper week because we have our Louie Tri (olympic distance triathlon in honor of Louie Bonpua) this Sunday. We weren't even close to done after 4 miles although my legs were about finished. In the end it turned out to be 7.5 miles and a bunch of pushups, crunches, squats, and running drills.

Today's yoga class was easier. I actually felt stronger in class, which is the first time that's happened since I started yoga last year. We didn't do "endurance yoga" today because there were too many new people in class. I'm thankful for that because I'm running 4 miles this evening.

All this training is wearing me out.

Working Late

I've had some really long working days recently. I start conference calls by 7AM every morning and have been working until at least 8:30PM. On Thursdays, the calls start at 6AM.

There is downtime mid-day because the emails from the morning are answered and I'm pretty efficient at getting my work done. But since everyone else appears to be working ALL day, I feel the need to be at my desk during normal work hours even though I have nothing to do. Then in the afternoon, around 3PM, the calls start again and go until 10 PM on some nights.

I'm trying to get my workouts in during the day, but most people wonder why I am at the gym for 2 hours in the middle of the day and look at me funny when I am walking with my gym bag. Sometimes I want to take naps in my car, but I haven't done that yet. Maybe my boss will let me work from home one day a week.

Any suggestions to help me claim back time from the "work-monster"?

New President

I spent much of this morning wishing I was in Washington, DC for the Inaugural events. After taking two conference calls from home, I made my way into work. I listened to NPR on the commute and decided I would watch the Inauguration on the TVs in our cafeteria.

I was surprised to see so many people in the cafeteria watching the live coverage from CNN. About 100 people ranging from me to the president of our company were watching the event. At moments, the crowd erupted in cheers and occasional laughter (when Chief Justice Roberts changed the order of the words in the oath). I even noticed a few people in tears.

I am impressed by the emotion this inauguration has brought out of the American people. And I am inspired that our country is united by hope. That's a rare thing here in America. That's what makes today historic for me.

New Helmet

This is a (stock) picture of my new Giro Ionos bike helmet. Isn't it pretty? It was expensive, but I figure money shouldn't be an object when it comes to protecting my head. Plus, I'll feel better knowing my head is as safe as possible when riding down hills at 45 MPH. And if nothing else, I'll look fast when riding my bike.

I guess the rule of thumb is to get a new helmet after 5 years. My old helmet is more than 7 years old, so it was time. Since old helmets shouldn't be worn, they recommend destroying it so no one will be able to wear it. I am trying to schedule a "helmet destroying party" with some friends who also got new helmets recently. I'll post pictures when it happens.

Weekend

I spent the weekend catching up on things I've needed to do, but haven't had time for. Since I had to cancel my trip to DC, I wanted to try to make it a productive weekend.

Saturday started with a hilly 10-mile run through Huddart Park, followed by breakfast after. I had planned to run errands, but was too tired from the run. I'm also still recovering from food poisoning earlier in the week, so I was wiped out. I managed to do one errand and cook dinner before going to sleep at 8:00!

Today started with a 37-mile bike ride with friends followed by lunch. Then I bought a new bike helmet (my old helmet was WAY past the "expiration date" - 5 years). After I decided to give my bike a bath. I was covered in grease when I finished and am still shocked at how much gunk came off the chain!

While I would rather be visiting friends and having fun in DC, it was a productive weekend and my to-do list is shorter.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Tickets

I booked tickets for my next business trip. I think the travel industry is suffering in this economy because I was able to book tickets on Singapore Airlines for relatively "cheap".

For those who have never flown on Singapore Airlines, I highly recommend it if the opportunity arises. They are widely known as the best airline!

I'll be away for 2 weeks in mid-February. I'm headed to Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and China... My "usual" trip except I'm not sure the beach resort will fit into the budget this year.

With so many cuts at work, I wouldn't be surprised if this is my only business trip this year!

Flying

I fly a lot. Not in the past few months, but I have flown more than my share of miles. And when I see news reports of plane crashes, I have to do my best to put them out of my mind.

So, I'm sure you all saw news reports of the US Air crash landing into the Hudson River. What was amazing to me is that everyone survived and there were minimal injuries. This was largely in part to the pilot, Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III.

While I don't fly US Air very often, I would like this pilot to be in charge of all of my flights. He managed to "float" a plane into the Hudson river, when there had been no previous emergency water landing where everyone survived. Amazing.

And, also, how do I make sure I get on a plane that floats?

One Year Anniversary

After 288 posts, we have reached this blog's 1 year anniversary.

Thanks to all of you for continuing to read it and check in on what's going on in my life!

Sick Day

I worked from home today. I'm very glad I went home early yesterday because I spent most of the afternoon napping or throwing up. Yes, I know, gross. I managed to get some soup in last night before I went to bed and that stayed down.

I woke up this morning and was feeling very tired, but wasn't feeling sick anymore. I've eaten lots of jello and some bread so far today. I'm thinking about eating some real food, but am not sure if I am ready to risk it yet.

Whatever this is, I just hope it passes soon.

4 hour nap

I just woke up from a 4-hour nap. I left work early today because I wasn't feeling well, my stomach was very unhappy.

At first I thought feeling tired was related to Ironteam training, but now I'm thinking it might be related to something I ate or a stomach bug.

Ugh.

No DC for me

Well, it turns out that I have to cancel my trip to DC for the inaguration. There are a couple of work conflicts that I can't get out of (one conflicts with my flight home), so the decision has been made for me. I don't like that work is getting in the way of my fun, but with all the layoffs recently, I suppose I shouldn't complain.

Weekend of workouts

This was another Iron training weekend. I'm very tired now, but it feels good too.

On Saturday, I went on a run with friends in Huddart Park. 8+ miles of hills and beautiful trails later, we were finished.

Today (Sunday), we had an Ironteam workout that consisted of a 90 minute swim and 41-mile bike. We got to swim in the Stanford pool (50 meter lanes) today, so that was pretty nice.

Our bike ride was up and down the hills of Portola Valley, Woodside, and Los Altos hills. It was a beautiful day (70 degrees out), but the ride was tough.

I guess I'm pretty worn out from all the training because I feel like going to bed and it's only 5 pm. I'll try to stay up until 7, but there are no guarantees I'll make it!

Swim

Here is my swim video, courtesy of Jerald (IronTeam Web Captain).



I can't seem to get any faster in the pool these days. I'm waiting for feedback from the coaches and hope they will tell me something to help me get faster. But this may just be a case of needing more time in the pool...

CRAMP!!!!

Last night, I got a cramp in my calf while helping pull the pool cover after our swim workout. I didn't think it was bad last night since my muscle released soon after the cramp, but it was still sore this morning when I woke up.

I have a few theories on why the calf cramp happened:

1) Dehydration
2) Fatigued muscles
3) Not enough stretching
4) Pulling pool covers is evil and definitely the most difficult part of the workout!

Probably a combination of all of the above actually. I'm hoping I won't get too many more calf cramps. Seriously, when they happen in the pool, I always feel like I'm going to drown...

2009

Today is Day 7 of 2009 and I am still in the country. That is a good thing since last year at this time, I was in Asia.

I have one trip approved and that should start just after Chinese New Years (End of Jan). This may be a very quiet travel year. I think I may need to rename this blog...

IronTeam

For those of you who don't know, I signed up for Ironman Canada and joined Ironteam again. This weekend, I went to my first Ironteam workouts...

On Saturday we had an 80-minute spin workout sprinkled with 40-minutes of running and strength (torture) exercises thrown in for fun. I was pretty tired after the workout and knew I would be sore the next day.

On Sunday, we got in the pool when it was only 29 degrees out. We swam for at least 1.5 hours and I think I did somewhere around 2800 meters. Then we went for a 90-minute bike ride in the cold. It wasn't bad on the way out because we were climbing, but on the way back, it was freezing.

I was totally pooped from this weekend's workout (I also ran on Friday), but am very glad to be back to working out regulary!

Ask me if I'm still glad in June... =)

Cold

It's 29 degrees out and I'm about to get in the pool for a swim, then
a bike ride. Brrrrrrrrrrr!